Group calls on Utah to reconsider stalled Great Salt Lake bill amid $1B federal request

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A group urged Utah lawmakers to reconsider a $200 million Great Salt Lake bill.
• The bill, which has been held, seeks to match a ledge from the state's philanthropic community for solutions.
• Utah recently requested $1 billion for lake projects from the federal government.

Editor's note: This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake.

SALT LAKE CITY — A few dozen people showed up to the Utah Capitol on Wednesday to urge state lawmakers to reconsider a $200 million Great Salt Lake bill, increasing their pressure after learning how much money the state has asked of President Donald Trump.

They argue that it would show the state's commitment to the issue, while not waiting for the federal government to intervene.

"If state leaders agree this crisis is severe enough to warrant a $1 billion federal request, then it is serious enough to demand immediate action here at home," said Autumn Featherstone, a University of Utah student who helped write SB250, as she led a rally at the Utah Capitol on Wednesday.

SB250, sponsored by Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek, calls for $200 million to be transferred to Utah's Great Salt Lake account and to the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner, mostly from an account dedicated to the proposed Bear River Development project and other long-range water projects.

It would match the $200 million that the state's philanthropic community pledged last year for lake solutions.

The bill didn't go far, though, as members of the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee voted 6-1 to hold it on Feb. 9.

While the majority of people who attended the meeting supported the bill, senators on the committee questioned why Blouin hadn't run the bill by the Great Salt Lake commissioner or other key water agencies. They also called it vague in terms of what types of projects the money would purchase.

"This is a really good bill, a good concept. I love the innovation. … But, from my perspective, what I see here is a really good idea that needs to mature a little bit," said Sen. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, noting that the Legislative Water Development Commission, which he chairs, was also not given time to review the proposal.

He suggested earmarking any designated funds from the proposed bill to go toward water optimization or other projects that reduce the amount of water that's diverted from reaching the lake, which he said could give the bill more teeth.

Featherstone and others behind the bill felt the committee's words were disingenuous, however. They alleged on Wednesday that Stratton and others on the committee declined to work with them on the bill since that hearing. Blouin told KSL that he doesn't expect the bill to be reassessed, either, likely holding it off for at least another year.

The state's recent request to Trump put the issue back in the spotlight.

Trump took to Truth Social over the weekend to call the Great Salt Lake's demise an "environmental hazard that must be worked on, IMMEDIATELY," and said that the government would work to make the lake "great again."

Utah floated around a $1 billion request for potential projects, state leaders said on Monday. Gov. Spencer Cox said the state is working on an official proposal for the federal government that will be presented in the coming months, as the president has said he wants to work "closely together" on lake issues.

Blouin and others who attended Wednesday's rally said they are skeptical about the state's request and Trump's remarks, which they believe could put the lake in jeopardy.

"I think there are going to be strings attached to that, and there's going to be a lot of questions as to ... whether that actually comes through," he said. "It's one thing to say it, but another thing to follow through."

That's why they came together to plead their case about SB250, which would unlock key funds for the lake now. Dozens came to write notes to be placed on the committee chairman's door, seeking to get a vote during the session.

The group behind the bill says they aren't giving up, even if the bill isn't voted on by the end of the legislative session on March 6.

"Despite this inaction on our government's part and in spite of being met with disappointment after disappointment, we have no intention of relieving the pressure that this urgent matter requires," said Astrid Van Wagenen, an 18-year-old who also worked on the bill.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Great Salt LakeUtah LegislatureOutdoorsUtahEnvironmentPolitics

Carter Williams

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Carter Williams is a reporter for KSL. He covers Salt Lake City, statewide transportation issues, outdoors, the environment and weather. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University.